1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for link state synchronization on a small-sized ad-hoc network, a method for checking a link state with a neighboring node, a method for processing a disconnected link state, a method for managing a link state, a method for processing link state error information, and an apparatus and a data structure therefor. This Application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 2002-46807, filed Aug. 8, 2002, incorporated in full herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the size of a network terminal decreases, demands of users for connection to a network when they are moving increase, and computing resources of a network terminal itself can perform the function of a router, technologies that can connect local area network terminals are increasingly needed.
An ad-hoc network is a set of wireless mobile hosts that form a temporary network without centralized administration or standardized supporting services. This ad-hoc network transmits a packet from a backbone host or other mobile host, to another mobile host.
An example of a prior art technology for obtaining route information to a destination in this ad-hoc network environment is shown in FIG. 1.
Here, a node means an independent mobile host on an ad-hoc network. The network shown in FIG. 1 includes node 0 60, node 1 10, node 2 20, node 3 30, node 4 40, and node 5 50. In order to provide information on the link state of each node, a routing table containing information on all link states is flooded (broadcast to many nodes of the network) such that overheads due to the capacity of the routing table occur.
Also, in the prior art, for example, when a link between node 2 and node 3 is disconnected, information only on the disconnection of the node 2 and node 3 is flooded. At this time, node 0 cannot be connected to node 4 and node 5 as well as node 3. However, since node 0 receives information only on the disconnection of node 2 and node 3, node 0 may uselessly try to access node 4 or node 5.